Locked Down and Trapped
by AWildeRomantic
Summary: A stranger turns up at the SGC, a nice stranger. But then things start going horribly wrong.Some SJ hurt and comfort coming later, as well as some DanielJanet
1. Guest

A/N – Now here is a random story. I don't know where I came up with it…probably in the dark recesses of my mind and from watching too many horror movie trailers online ;) Oh, and it is slightly inspired by the MCR song "I never told you what I do for a living". But anyway, idk if I'm at all good at writing scary stuff, but here goes….

Chapter 1: Guest

"Unauthorized off world activation!"

"Sir, we're receiving a visual/audio transmission." Walter informed General Hammond.

"Put it on screen."

The face that appeared on the television screens was that of a young man with short brown hair and a worried expression on his face. "Please…!" His voice echoed the panic in his voice. "Am I speaking with representatives of the Tau'ri?"

"I am General Hammond of the United States Air Force," Hammond said. "And yes, I am a representative of the Tau'ri."

"Please," there was an explosion and the man looked behind him before turning back. "I request sanctuary. My name is Alok, I am being pursued by several Jaffa in attack ships…I request sanctuary. I am a peaceful trader. Please!"

Jack appeared in the control room behind Hammond. "What's going on?"

"We've got a man here, says his name is Alok. He's requesting sanctuary."

Jack squinted at the screen. "He's under attack…"

"Please!" Alok's eyes were wide and frightened. More explosions were coming from him.

"All right, give me one moment," Hammond quickly called an order for troops to assemble in the gate room, as well as a medical team. Then he gave Walter the order to open the iris, and told Alok to come through.

* * *

"I am very grateful," Alok said later in the infirmary, faced with Janet, SG-1 and Hammond. "I do not know what I did to anger the Jaffa…I am a peaceful trader, my ship is not armed."

"What do you trade?" Daniel asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Spices, fabrics, valuables. I take them from planet to planet."

"Do you think the Jaffa were after something you were carrying?"

"I think it's a bit stupid to carry valuables with out any weapons…" Jack muttered.

Alok glanced at Jack, but shrugged. "I really do not know."

"Ok, everyone," Janet said, pulling curtains around Alok's bed. "I'm going to have to send you out now, he needs some rest."

"Very well," Hammond said. "SG-1, come with me I need to talk to you in the briefing room."

That evening Sam was eating dinner alone in the commissary, at SG-1's usual table. She had a book open in front of her and was surprised when she looked up to see Alok standing there, holding a tray of food.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked tentatively.

"No, not at all," Sam gestured to the empty seat across from her. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, much better, thank you," Alok said, sitting down. "Your Dr. Fraiser is a very skilled healer."

Sam grinned. "Yeah." There was something about Alok's soft-spoken, gentle manner that she found quite comforting, even though she barely knew the man. "I'm Major Samantha Carter, by the way." She introduced. "But, you can call me Sam."

"Sam." Alok bowed his head. "I was a little worried…I'd heard you Tau'ri are a very cautious people. I thought you might lock me up for a few days until you were sure I'd cause you no harm."

"We have our reasons for trusting you," Sam assured him. "We wouldn't just let any person walk around the base. But as to letting you leave, that I don't know."

"I am perfectly content here," Alok took a bite out of an apple. "Mmm. I haven't had fresh food in days."

"So what planet do you come from?" Sam asked, resting her elbows on the table.

Something flashed in Alok's eyes, though Sam couldn't tell if it was caution or sadness. "It was destroyed a long time ago, I'd rather not discuss it."

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"It's all right." A gentle smile had crept over Alok's face, making Sam forget her brief moment of guilt. "So you are a warrior?"

Sam nodded. "You could say that. I'm a scientist as well. But mostly I go off world and explore."

"And the stargate is your primary mode of travel between planets?" Alok sounded curious.

"Yep. We're working on ships right now, but they're still in production mostly."

"Ah." Alok nodded and turned to his food.

* * *

"I don't know, there's something about this Alok guy that I don't like," Jack complained. He and Sam had gone to bug Daniel, who was supposed to be cataloguing a new shipment of artifacts retrieved by SG-11.

"He seems like a harmless trader to me," Daniel replied, squinting at some Goa'uld writing on a stone tablet.

"He's very nice," Sam added. "I was talking to him at dinner the other day."

"I don't know," Jack walked over to the table, picking up stuff and examining it before setting it down again. "Call it my gut instinct." Something in Jack's tone told the other two he didn't want to talk about it further.

"So where's Teal'c this week?" Sam asked conversationally.

"Oh," Jack shrugged. "Hammond let him go to Chulak. He said something about Ray'ac and Bra'tac and some ceremony of manhood…"

Sam snorted.

"No I'm serious!"

"I believe you sir." She flashed him one of her brief grins.

Daniel looked up with a slightly annoyed expression. "Uh, guys, I kinda have a lot of work to do, do you mind?"

"Ok, we'll leave you alone, Danny-boy," Jack said, heading out into the hall. "C'mon, Carter, let's go see who else we can bother."

"Sir," Sam said as they walked towards the elevators. "I'm surprised you aren't going up to your cabin now that Hammond's finally given us a few days off."

"Ah, you know," Jack made a face. "I kinda hate leaving the base knowing there's an alien wandering around that no one else is the least bit suspicious about."

Sam punched the button for the elevator. "Don't you think for once that he's all he says he is? A peaceful trader seeking sanctuary?"

"Carter," Jack began, stepping onto the elevator. "This is the SGC. Things don't just happen, they _happen_."

* * *

Jack eventually gave into his boredom and called a team night out. He, Daniel, and Sam went to a local bar and grill, where they spent an enjoyable evening watching Daniel get steadily more intoxicated.

"Ok," he said, his words slurring. "So Anubis, Oma Desala, and…Ba'al…all walk into a bar…"

"That's it." Jack glowered at his watch. "It's past your bedtime, Daniel. Carter, help me get him out of here."

Sam and Jack helped Daniel back to Jack's car, and then all three piled in.

"Is he out?" Jack asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

Sam turned around in her seat. Daniel was slumped against the door, eyes closed, glasses askew. "Yes sir." She faced forward.

"Well that was a fun evening," Jack said. "Too bad Teal'c wasn't here to enjoy it."

"I'm sure he's having fun with Ray'ac." Sam said, staring out the window. "It must be hard not being able to see your son for weeks on end."

Jack grunted incoherently.

Sam suddenly turned, a horrified look on her face. "Oh, God, I shouldn't have said that! I'm sorry, Sir, that was really insensitive of me…"

"Forget it, Carter." Jack had pulled up outside of Sam's house. "I'll make sure Daniel gets home alright."

Sam nodded, opening the car door. "Goodnight, Sir."

" 'Night, Carter."

They exchanged a brief smile, then Sam was heading up the walkway to her house.

* * *

"Is that guy still here?" Jack asked Hammond the following Saturday, upon passing Alok in the hall.

Hammond nodded. "We don't know what else to do with him. He's very nervous about going back out into the galaxy. Some Tok'ra representatives were here the other day and he sent a message along with him to some of his friends. He doesn't know if they'll be able to get him safely."

"Good. And until his friends return?"

"We wait."

"Right."

* * *

There was something far less comforting to Sam about waking up in her quarters at the SGC as opposed to waking up in her own bed. Perhaps it was the spartan room, the sounds of the airmen patrolling the hallway outside, the less than comfortable bed, or the knowledge that any minute she might have to be running off world to fight the Goa'uld…

As she awoke Monday morning, Sam felt something more than usual was wrong, but she couldn't quite place it. She got out of bed, pulling on a black tank top and dark green uniform pants before stepping out into the hall.

The lack of airmen was the first thing that tipped her off. The hallway was deserted. She noticed that even before she noticed that most of the lights were blown out, and the ones that remained were flickering. Panic rose like liquid fire inside her. Something was wrong.

Sam's first instinct was to run right back in her room and grab her handgun. That done, she went back in the hall and began slowly creeping down it.

Sam reached a certain point and was suddenly overcome with the worst smell; something like meat left out into the open too long. Coughing slightly, she jumped when something dripped onto her shoulder. She brought one hand up to wipe it away.

Looking at her hand, she could see dark blood smeared across her fingers.


	2. Intruder

A/N – I've decided to bump the rating up to M, cus this is gonna get kinda violent…Oh, and tanks to my first two reviewers, LuSo and Delliham!

Chapter 2: Intruder

Sam stared dumbfounded at her hand, then at her shoulder. Another drip of blood landed on it. For a moment her mind didn't seem to grasp why blood would be dripping from the ceiling, or what that horrible smell was. Then she looked up.

"OH GOD!" Sam clapped her hands over her mouth, her gun falling to the floor as she stumbled backwards.

One of the airmen was tied to the pipes running along the ceiling. A gaping wound in his throat showed the cause of death, and the source of the blood. And the smell.

Panic rose even higher in Sam as she gingerly grabbed her gun and hurried down the hall, looking all around for more nasty surprises.

One greeted her at the elevator door. Another airman, horribly mangled, his blood smeared on the buttons. It looked like he'd been trying to get onto the elevator. Sam retreated out of sight of the mess to try and catch her breath.

"Ok…" she said to herself, breathing deeply. "I'm going to be ok, I just have to find Colonel O'Neill or General Hammond." Steeling herself to be strong, she walked over to the elevator and pushed the button. The doors slid open.

Sam found herself staring into a dark, empty elevator shaft. The dead airman had a flashlight on his belt and Sam used this to peer into the gloomy depths of the shaft. Far at the bottom, she could see what looked horribly like the wreckage of the elevator.

"Hey!"

The sudden noise startled Sam so much she stumbled forward. For a horrible second that seemed to stretch out painfully, she teetered on the edge. The flashlight fell from her hand as she looked down into the darkness.

And then a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her back, away from the danger and against the familiar form of Colonel O'Neill.

"Sir…!" Sam gasped out, aware that she was shaking violently.

Jack held her away, his hands on her shoulders, looking her over. "Carter, are you ok?!"

"Shaken up." Sam said, trying to catch her breath. "Sir, what the hell happened here?"

"I have no idea." Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I was just on my way to look for you and then head to the armory." He glanced past Sam. "Looks like we'll be taking the stairs though…Sorry to give you such a scare."

"It's alright, sir." The military aspect of Sam Carter was beginning to kick in now. She needed to keep her head clear, something that would be a little easier with the comforting presence of her CO next to her.

"Why do I have the sickening feeling this has something to do with Alok?" Jack asked as they climbed down the shaft to the level that housed the armory. "I mean, he turns up, sticks around for a few weeks, and then I wake up in the middle of the set for a slasher movie."

Sam stopped, opening the door that lead out of the shaft and stepping out. Jack followed. Turning around, they stared in dismay at the scene before them. It looked like something huge and sickeningly destructive had simply rushed down the hall, killing everything in it's path and throwing bodies against the walls so they left smears of blood in their wake as they slid down. The stench of death was overpowering.

Jack swore under his breath, wrinkling his nose.

They made their way to the armory, which was missing a lot of weapons. Sam and Jack, however found enough to equip themselves with P90's, zat guns, explosives, and their BDU vests.

"Where to now?" Sam asked, leaning against the wall of the armory. She was reluctant to leave the room, not only because she didn't want to see the carnage outside, but also because whatever had done all this could still be out there.

"Well, I'm going to stand here for five seconds and give myself a chance to wake up for this nightmare…" Jack said. He waited. Nothing happened. "Ok. Now we're gonna get to that lovely red phone in Hammond's office. In the general's absence I'm declaring a foothold situation here."

They moved out into the hall, P90s held at the ready, scanning the halls in front and to either side of them.

"Sir!" Sam called suddenly. Jack turned.

"What?"

Sam pointed to the end of the hall before her, which lay in shadows. "I saw something moving down there."

Jack motioned for her to follow him as he crept down the darkened hall, turning the light on his P90 on. He signaled for Sam to crouch down as they neared the end of the hall, where it turned sharply. Jack peered cautiously around the corner, but there was nothing there except an empty hallway and a closed door. Jack straightened up.

"There's nothing there." 

Sam's eyes widened. "I saw something…I know I did."

"I know, I believe you, Carter." Jack said. "But right now let's get to Hammond's office."

Both expected more carnage to greet them in the briefing room, but it was empty and pristine as always. Bursting into Hammond's office the only signs of struggle they found were an overturned chair and some papers scattered on the floor. Sam went and locked the door leading out to the hall while Jack went and tried dialing the phone.

"The line's dead," he said, sitting down on the floor in front of the desk and leaning against it. "Someone must have cut it or something."

Sam sat down next to him. "We need to get out of here."

"My thoughts exactly," Jack pulled his radio out and turned it on. "This is Colonel O'Neill, can anyone hear me?...I repeat, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, is anyone out there?"

Faintly, they could hear a man's voice saying quietly, "All around the SGC the Hunter chased the Tau'ri…" This was followed by a quiet chuckle.

"Who the hell are you?" Jack shouted into the radio, but he got no response. Jack looked up at Sam and she caught a glint of worry in the Colonel's dark brown eyes. He got to his feet. "Let's get out of here. I suggest dialing the alpha site."

Sam nodded and they left Hammond's office, heading down the stairs to the control room. More airmen and technical sergeants lay dead, though Walter wasn't among them. Sam hurried over to his usual seat at the main terminal. Ignoring the blood splattered over the keyboard she quickly loaded the dialing program, then stared at the screen.

"Sir…" She said. "This isn't our dialing program…someone's completely reconfigured the system." She looked up at Jack. "I don't think I can get into this."

A message flashed on the screen; Nice try, Sam.

"Ok, we're getting out of here, NOW." Jack half pulled Sam to her feet and they ran from the room, to the hall and the shaft that led right up to the upper levels. The climbed and climbed until Sam suddenly stopped.

"Sir…"

"Carter, what's the problem?" Jack craned his head back and could see that there was a huge…something…blocking the shaft ahead of them. Sam pulled the flashlight out of her pocket and shined it upwards, revealing the object to be a large boulder.

Sam reached up and pushed against the boulder. It didn't budge. Sam looked down at Jack and shook her head. "We're not getting through. Unless you want to try blasting this out with C40."

Jack had turned around and was opening the door that was just below where he'd been hanging on the ladder. "Let's try and find another way…I'm not too fond of being in a narrow shaft with a big rock hanging over my head."

"I'll take point." Sam said as they headed down the hall. After a little while she said, "Why would someone do this?" There was no reply. "Sir?" Sam spun around, and felt her heart sink. "Sir?!" She said a little louder, backtracking. There was no sign of Jack.

Sam took several deep breaths, leaning against the wall and trying to fight her rising panic. Colonel O'Neill was here, he had to be here, he was just behind her a second ago…Or had he been? Sam had hallucinated before…in situations of extreme stress she knew it wasn't a far shot for someone to imagine something to give them comfort. Was it more likely that her CO had been there and mysteriously vanished, or that he hadn't been there at all?

Sam wanted to sit down and cry, but she knew this wasn't the time for that.

She was just trying to decide where to head next, when something hit her from behind, raking sharp claws across her shoulders. Sam cried out at the searing pain, then turned and began firing in one motion. Through the barrage of gunfire she caught a glimpse of a humanoid form before it vanished around the corner. Sam had no desire to follow it.

She winced. Whatever had attacked her had slashed right through the material of her vest, slicing into the skin below.

"God, I should get to the infirmary…" Sam muttered.

"You know, talking to oneself is the first sign of insanity."

Sam whirled around, bringing her P90 up, which proved to be a painful maneuver. "Daniel?!"

"Hey Sam."

Sam blinked at him. "You're not real."

"Well, I am," Daniel said. "I'm just not…here."

"You ascended." Sam sighed. "Whatever is loose in the SGC killed you."

A nod.

"What about Colonel O'Neill? General Hammond?"

"I really don't know, Sam," Daniel replied. "And even if I did I don't know if I could tell you."

"What? Why?" Sam shook her head. "You know what, never mind. How do I get out of here?"

"I can't tell you." Daniel sounded sorry, but Sam was beginning to get annoyed. "I'm not supposed to help you."

"What!? Daniel this isn't a game!" Sam cried.

Daniel sighed. "I know…but just because it isn't a game doesn't mean there aren't rules."

"You know what, go to hell!" Sam turned away quickly so Daniel couldn't see the angry tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"It's a bit late for that." Daniel joked.

Sam turned back sharply. "Why are you here if you can't – " But Daniel wasn't there, not anymore.

'_This is all feeling very familiar…'_ Sam thought, reminded of the time she was trapped on the Prometheus and kept seeing her friends.

She decided to go back down to the control room and try to figure out how to work the strange dialing program. It was difficult climbing back down the shaft with the injury on her back, as well as the knowledge that there was a huge boulder directly above her head.

As if thinking about it triggered something, just as Sam reached the door that led to the control room level she heard an ominous grating noise from above and felt loose bits of rock falling on her.

"Shit!" Sam catapulted herself out of the shaft just as there was a great boom and the rock came crashing down.

Sam landed with a slight squish on a pile of something slimy and wet. When she saw what it was she stumbled away, then fell to her knees and vomited. Something had piled several bodies by the door to the shaft, and as a result of this Sam was now covered in blood, both her own and others.

Trying to ignore this unpleasant fact, she got to her feet. Suddenly she heard the sound of someone firing a zat gun. Sam turned and ran desperately towards the noise. She came to an open door, but before she had a chance to react, whoever it was fired at her with the zat.

Sam let out a cry and crumpled to the floor unconscious.


	3. Prey

A/N – So, thanks to everyone for the reviews! Time to move the plot along, and I decided to randomly throw some Daniel/Janet stuff in, so that's starting…and the plot thickens, I hope…

Chapter 3: Prey

"Fuck!" Jack said loudly as he realized that the blood soaked figure he'd just shot wasn't his attacker returning, but Carter. Jack ran over and knelt beside her, putting his hand to her cheek. "Carter…hey, Carter wake up!"

Sam's eyes fluttered open. The face above her swam, and finally came into focus. "Sir?" she said weakly. "Who shot me?"

"I did," Jack said sheepishly. "I thought you were that…thing. Whatever it is. You're all covered in blood."

"I know." Sam struggled into a sitting position. Some of the blood on her was beginning to dry, feeling just as unpleasant as when it was wet.

Jack looked concernedly at her back. "Did he get you too?"

"I don't know. Something hit me from behind."

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "I don't know what he looks like, he's wearing some sort of mask. But I do know he's got this big, long, sharp knife that he's carrying around."

"I think Daniel's dead," Sam said quietly.

Jack stared at her. "What?!"

"I saw him…he said he was ascended."

"Damn." Jack bit his lip, looking around. "You know what, Carter? For once I'm out of ideas here."

Sam suddenly looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. "You're not real, are you?"

"What?" Jack wrinkled his nose. "I never thought I'd say this to you of all people, Carter, but don't be an idiot. Of course I'm real, _I just shot you_."

"I know-! I just…" Sam shrugged listlessly.

Jack scooted a little closer. "Hey, c'mere." Gently, so as not to rub against the gash on her back, Jack put an arm around his 2IC. Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he murmured, "We'll get out of here, don't worry."

Sam found herself shaking slightly, and only able to nod in response.

* * *

"Sir, I don't even recognize the CP language this is programmed in!" Sam said a little while later. They were both sitting in a closet just off the control room, with a computer Sam had hooked up to try and figure out the dialing system.

Jack peered over her shoulder at the strange symbols that scrolled over the screen. "It's all Greek to me, Carter." He returned to his task of bandaging the wound on her back. "Can't you figure it out?"

"If I had weeks to do it and less stressful conditions, maybe," Sam replied. She switched back to the main interface of the dialing program. "Look, these are the symbols on the gate, but it looks like its supposed to dial only four…" Suddenly the program seemed to spring to life, scanning through the symbols. As the first one locked, Sam and Jack heard the unmistakable sound of the gate dialing up.

They exchanged a quick glance then ran down to the gate room. As they got there they could see a figure standing before the ramp. He had the limp form of Daniel slung over one shoulder.

But as the usual rush of energy came out of the stargate, that's what caught and held the attention of the two SG-1 members standing near the back of the room. There was some unexplainable quality to the rush, and to the event horizon itself. And it wasn't blue. It was red.

"Carter, what is that?" he whispered, not even noticing as the figure on the ramp entered the stargate.

"Sir!" Sam pointed to the figure's vanishing back.

"Yeah, I saw, but what's wrong with the gate?!"

The wormhole closed and Sam turned to face Jack. "Sir, I think he just opened a five dimensional wormhole."

"A what?" Jack blinked.

"Well, we can't be sure about any of this, it's all theoretical really," Sam was slipping back into her scientist mode now. "But when we open a wormhole we might be dealing with more than the usual three dimensions. The event horizon appears three dimensional, but the wormhole itself…we don't really know. Did you see how the energy burst didn't really look like anything we've ever seen before?"

"Uh huh." Jack's eyes were beginning to glaze over.

"Well, that's because it was four dimensional. It extended not only on the X, Y, and Z axes of space, but also along the W axis, which is something our brains aren't meant to comprehend."

"Right, and my brain isn't meant to comprehend whatever it is that you just said…"

"Sir," Sam sighed. "It's completely possible that this…thing…isn't from our dimension at all."

"And that's a bad thing, right?"

Sam nodded. "It would explain how it could do all this…" She gestured around. "We can only move in three dimensions. If this thing can move in four…it would be able to do things we can't even imagine. And it would also mean that none of our weapons would be able to work against it."

Jack sighed. "So what is it doing here?"

"I don't know, sir," Sam said. "But it looks like our only way out of here, and our only chance of rescuing Daniel and whoever else has been captured, is through the wormhole, the next time he opens an outgoing one."

Jack stared at Sam, who was chewing her lower lip anxiously. She still had blood splattered over her, and her hair was matted with the stuff as well. "Carter, we don't know where that wormhole leads, or more importantly if we'll be able to get back."

"With all due respect, Sir, we don't have much choice," Sam was looking around. "If we stay here we'll either die or be killed."

The gate started up.

Jack grabbed Sam, pulling her down behind some equipment. They watched as the strange wormhole formed, and the figure returned. It turned, and they saw it was indeed Alok, though no friendliness remained on the alien's face, it was twisted into a hard expression and he held a wicked looking double bladed dagger in one hand. He'd also shedded his simple clothing for more elaborate dark armor.

Alok stood on the platform, his eyes scanning the room, nostrils dilating. A smile formed on his face.

"Come out and play, tau'ri, I know you're there!" He said, stalking slowly down the ramp. "I can smell you. Come out come out!"

Silently, Sam turned to look at Jack. Their eyes locked. Jack held up one finger.

"One." He mouthed silently. "Two." Two fingers. "Three!" He and Sam burst from their hiding place and made a dash for the door out of the gate room. Alok looked up and let out a mad laugh before giving chase.

Hanging on to Sam's wrist Jack ran as hard as he could. He didn't even think about where they were going.

Sam didn't think she'd ever run this hard in her life. She suddenly knew what it felt like to be a mouse pursued by a cat; the look in Alok's eyes had told her all she needed to know. Finally Jack pulled her into a room and slammed the door shut, dragging a desk that was in one corner over and putting it in front of the door.

"I don't think that's going to help, Sir." Sam said, sliding down so she was sitting against the wall.

"Shit." Jack said quietly, sitting down next to Sam. "Why the hell did I run like that? I should have stayed and put a few bullet through that guy's head."

"It's ok," Sam said. "I was scared too."

Jack looked at her. "I never run!" and the unspoken _I'm never scared!_ Hung in the air between them, though Sam knew it wasn't true.

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked, trying to break the silence that had fallen over them.

Jack shrugged his shoulders listlessly. "What _can_ we do? Keep running? We'll work ourselves into a corner."

"We'll go back to the control room," Sam suggested. "When he dials out again we can see what symbols he dialed, then make our own wormhole and go through."

"I don't know if I like that idea."

"It _is_ an idea, sir, better than nothing."

Jack nodded, then reluctantly got to his feet, pulling the desk away from the door. He opened the door and cautiously stuck his head out, looking up and down the hall a couple times before motioning for Sam to follow him.

The moved quickly, keeping close to the wall and looking all around for any sign of Alok. Suddenly Jack heard a noise, sort of like footsteps, and yet unlike them.

"Carter, what – "

Something flew past them, slamming them both against the wall, and into unconsciousness.

* * *

Sam came to slowly. It was dark, wherever she was, and there were noises. Some noises – a quiet crying, for example – she recognized. Others were strange to her. Growling and snarling, and something that was either a scream or a roar.

Sam sat up. She was in a large, dark room with a lot of other people.

"Sam?" came a timid voice.

Sam looked over. "Daniel!" She felt relief flood through her at the sight of him as well as Janet, frightened as they both were. They were sitting in a corner and Daniel had one arm around Janet who looked just as pale and frightened. She smiled weakly, however, when she saw Sam.

"We were so worried about you." Daniel said as Sam scooted over to sit next to her two friends. "We've seen everyone else at different times, but we hadn't seen you or Jack."

"We were still back at the SGC," Sam said quietly. "Oh, god, it was horrible! Everyone back there is dead! All the airmen and technical sergeants…"

"Oh god." Janet echoed, shaking her head. She moved over to where Jack lay slumped against the wall.

"You're not dead, are you?" Sam asked Daniel suspiciously.

"Me?" Daniel blinked. "No…no I don't think so."

"I just thought I'd seen you in your ascended form…"

"Sorry, Sam, that wasn't me." Daniel was giving her an odd look.

Sam shook her head. "Never mind. So…do you have any idea why we're here?"

"Well," Daniel sighed heavily. "From what I've put together we're prisoners of a goa'uld who calls itself Kasabian."

"A system lord?"

"Nope," Daniel shook his head. "Apparently this Kasabian was so insane that the system lords banished and rejected him right out of our dimension. That wormhole Alok brought us through…we're not even in our own dimension anymore."


	4. Shadowed

A/N - Was a bit inspired by the video game "Silent Hill" for this next part, and the movie, though I have yet to see it...

Chapter 4: Shadowed

"Can we have some water?!" Sam shouted. She had resorted to standing by the door to their large cell and shouting at the guards as they marched past in their strange, intimidating armor.

Jack had been swimming in and out of consciousness for the past couple hours, and was running a fever. Janet seemed frustrated that she couldn't do anything to help him, and Daniel was trying to comfort her.

One of the guards stopped by the door and turned his helmeted head towards Sam.

"Water." Sam said again. "We need water. One of the men in here is very sick."

The guard turned and left. Sam groaned inwardly, and was just about to start shouting again when the guard returned with a large wooden bucket. He shoved it through a sliding panel in the bottom of the door then returned to his marching.

"I thought you asked for water." Daniel said, wrinkling his nose at the contents of the bucket. "This stuff smells like sulfur."

"It's probably got a very high mineral content." Janet said. She ripped a strip of cloth off the bottom of one pants leg, wetted it then placed it over Jack's forehead. "Here, Sam, watch him. I'm going to go make sure everyone else in here's ok."

As Janet moved off, Sam sat next to Jack and smoothed the cloth over his forehead. His eyes were closed, his lips parted slightly. Sam put one hand to his cheek. "Sir?" she said quietly. "Sir please wake up…"

Jack opened one eye and mumbled, "What is it, Carter? I've got a headache the size of Texas." He opened the other eye and looked around. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, Sir. But you've been out of it for a while."

"Have I now?" Jack tried to sit up, but Sam put her hands on his shoulders.

"Sir, you need to rest."

"What, are you taking over in place of Fraiser?"

"Janet's here." Sam said. "In fact…" she looked around. "Everyone's here. Everyone we couldn't account for. General Hammond, Walter, Siler…"

"You mean the whole SGC's been taken captive?!" Jack sat up, despite Sam's attempts to prevent him.

Everyone in the room turned as the door opened and two of the guards walked in. Janet and Daniel quickly scuttled back to Sam and Jack, but if they'd been trying not to draw attention to themselves, it didn't work. One guard gestured at the four of them. He said something, and suddenly Sam and Janet were being held by one guard, and Jack and Daniel by the other.

Sam looked wildly at Janet as they were dragged into the hall. "How did we get…?"

Janet only had time to shake her head, before the guards tied dark pieces of cloth over their eyes.

As the guards walked them down the hall, Sam noticed a strange sensation that reminded her of traveling through the stargate, except that she could feel the floor firmly before her feet. Only…was it curving? Sam couldn't quite tell.

The guards forced them to stop, then in one motion removed their blindfolds and pushed them to the ground.

Sam landed face down on some sort of metal grating. When she opened her eyes she realized with some confusion that it was the ramp leading up to the Stargate. Janet was on one side of her, Jack and Daniel just behind. The other three looked just as confused as Sam felt.

"SG-1, Dr. Fraiser, good to have you back."

They all looked up to see Hammond standing before them.

"Sir?" Jack got to his feet. "Weren't we just…"

"Don't worry, SG-3 got back a little while ago and filled me in on the situation." Hammond said. "I suggest you all go down to the infirmary and get checked out, then get some rest." He turned and headed back up to the control room.

Jack whirled around. "Anyone else think something's really off here?"

"Yeah," Janet agreed. "Two seconds ago we were in another dimension…how'd we get back here?"

"Yeah, and two seconds ago I had a killer headache and…" Jack winced. "Wait, no, that's still here." They left the gate room and headed up to Sam's lab, locking themselves in to prevent any unwanted interruption.

* * *

"Ok, what's going on here?" Jack demanded.

"No idea." Daniel replied. "Of course, its perfectly possible that we're safely back in the SGC _now_ and what we saw before was the illusion."

"Occam's Razor." Sam said quietly. Daniel and Janet nodded, but Jack just looked more confused.

"_What_?"

"All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one." Sam explained. "What's more likely, that something was able to break into the SGC and kill most of the people, or that it was just an illusion?"

Jack scowled. "What did I tell you about things happening at the SGC? I'll give you O'Neill's Razor; the simplest explanation usually is the wrong one if it's within a ten mile radius of the Stargate."

"I agree with Colonel O'Neill," Janet said. "Something definitely isn't right."

"Thank you!" Jack cried.

Daniel was biting his lip thoughtfully. "But if this looks just like the real SGC should, then how do we tell what's wrong?"

"May be we should just try doing what we normally do," Sam suggested. "Watch out for anything that's different about this place."

Jack spent a moment contemplating his 2IC's suggestion, then nodded. "Ok, just keep your guard up. We don't need anyone else getting attacked by some freaky 4-D monster from outer space."

No one seemed to eager to leave the safe confines of Sam's lab, however. Jack hovered by the table, while Janet and Daniel seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes. Sam eyed them all.

"Is this what you all would be doing normally?"

"No." Jack said flatly. He marched over to the door and opened it. "I'm going to go see if there's any cake." He headed out into the hall. Daniel and Janet followed.

For a moment after everyone had left Sam felt worry stab through her, but she quickly buried it, sitting down and turning on her computer. Maybe she could finally finish that one report Hammond had been bugging her for…

* * *

Everything in the infirmary seemed to be how Janet had left it. The only patient was Siler, who had burned his hand, but one of the nurses was taking care of him and he'd be out of there soon. As Janet went into her office, nervously looking around, Daniel lingered in the doorway.

"You sure you don't want me to stay?"

Janet turned, smiling. "I'll be fine, Daniel, really." Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Though you are probably overdue for some of your booster shots…" That had Daniel quickly backing out of the infirmary. Janet laughed, sitting down at her desk.

She'd been working on some medical files for only a couple minutes when suddenly the fluorescent light above her head began to flicker, dimming to the pale green that was usually a warning that it was dying. Janet frowned; she thought that it had just been replaced a couple days ago.

Getting to her feet Janet stuck her head out of the office. The infirmary was completely deserted. Turning back into the office, Janet froze, staring at the corner of the ceiling.

It looked like something brown had been poured and was somehow spreading across the ceiling and down the walls. Wherever the strange shadow touched the wall crumbled and aged, becoming streaked with rust and decay. Janet's heart began pounding wildly as she backed up, away from the strange thing. A noise caused her to turn, and let out an earsplitting shriek.

Daniel had made it halfway down the hall then stopped. He turned, walked in a circle, waited for a few minutes debating with himself, then headed back to the infirmary. That's when he heard the scream.

Daniel broke into a run, almost going right past the infirmary doors. Going through them the first thing he saw was Janet backed up against a corner. Facing her was some huge, grotesque, shapeless…something. Daniel grabbed a scalpel off a tray next to him and lunged at the creature, plunging the small but resilient blade into what he hoped was the thing's neck.

Letting out an inhuman howl the creature turned, then appeared to melt into the floor.

"Janet!" Daniel rushed over, pulling Janet into his arms. "Oh, God…are you ok?"

"What was that?!" Janet said, looking up at him.

"I don't….Oh God, Janet I think we should get out of here!" Still holding Janet to him, Daniel had began backing up towards the door to the infirmary. Janet turned in Daniel's arms, and saw the same strange shadow that had been in her office spreading over the ceiling.

* * *

Jack looked up suddenly from his piece of cake to see that the commissary was empty. A second ago it had been full of chattering SGC personnel, but now not even a singly dirty plate remained on the tables.

Jack frowned. A buzzing noise above him caused him to look up and see the fluorescent lights flickering. He pushed back his chair and stood up, running to the phone by the door.

"Carter?" he barked into it, after dialing the extension to her lab.

"Yes, Sir?" came her reply.

"Is everything normal where you are?"

A pause. "Yeah, why?"

"Because something freaky is going on here and I know it's not the meatloaf!" Jack heard a click. "Carter?" He hung the phone up and picked it up again, holding the receiver to his ear. "Aww, crap."

Jack burst out into the hall as fast as he could, running to the elevators. Remembering what had happened the last time with the elevators, he suddenly changed course, heading for the stairs.

The thick metal door to Sam's lab was closed, though it looked like it had aged about a hundred years and was now rusted completely through. Pulling out his hand-gun, Jack slipped through the opening.

Almost immediately he felt the cold muzzle of a gun pressed to his temple.

"Carter?" he said timidly. The gun was withdrawn.

"Sorry, Sir."

Jack turned to look at her. In the flickering light he could see that the lab had undergone some strange, horrific transformation. Sam herself looked terrified.

"The door shut," She said, her voice shaking. "I couldn't get out…and the something started happening…Sir, I was stuck in here and this black stuff was creeping over the walls and…"

"Shhh." Jack put an arm around Sam's shoulders, pulling her to his side. "It's ok, I'm here, Carter. C'mon, let's go find Daniel and Fraiser."

They stepped out into the hall, guns at the ready. Jack was looking ahead when he felt Sam pushing on his shoulder.

"Sir, I think…RUN!"

"What?" Jack spun around. Something was coming down the hall. Something black, like Sam had seen in the lab. The lights were flickering and dimming as it went, the concrete walls crumbling. Jack didn't need any more urging, he and Sam began running as fast as they could away from whatever it was.

They rounded a corner and collided with Janet and Daniel, who were running in the opposite direction from the strange thing taking over the walls.

"Are you two all right?" Sam asked.

Janet was looking around. "We're fine…" she said, before the shadows surrounded them.


End file.
